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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

SPOILERS: Batwing #10

Oh look, David is asking Kia on a date to meet him for drinks after she gets off work. Man, I wonder how that's going to go, because it's not like members of the Bat family have an abysmal record for showing up to dates or anything. But prior to the date that David is totally going to make it to, he's got a group of pirates off the coast, known as the Jackals, to deal with.

David manages to dispatch of most of the pirates pretty easily, and chases one back on to their own ship. This lone pirate gets on the phone with his employer, coincidentally located in Gotham, asking what to do. All the man on the other side of the conversation asks, is if the guy chasing him (David) is on the boat. The pirate confirms it, and his employer simply tells him to stay where he is. David opens a room to find a Chinese hostage, but has no time to save him, as the man in Gotham presses a button to blow the ship.

Thanks to Davids reinforced armor (as suggested by Lucius Fox) David survives. Later he and Matu speak with Batman and Robin via satellite discussing the man David found. Facial recognition figures him to be a nuclear scientist by the name of Hui Deng, who had been "off the grid" for weeks. Looks like David's night plans have changed! SHIT! Sorry, Kia.

Elsewhere, the Nigerian Governor is being pressured by his advisors to work with some western oil companies who are concerned about the "unions" (see: rebels) terrorizing the oil wells. The Governor brushes them off, attending his granddaughter's birthday party, only to have it bombed by rebels... grim.

Later in China, Batwing is investigating Hui Deng's "gutted" apartment Who described it as "gutted?" Why, none other than Nightwing, who has decided to tag along. David and Dick don't seem to find anything, but David uses a device of his own making, to track internet usage through the ethernet port. Dick thinks is something that Batman gave him, but Matu begins to tell Dick over the radio stories of how talented David is with that sort of stuff.

Meanwhile, a group of gangsters are forming outside of the apartment, while Matu sees news of the bombing and reveals his family is dead apparently?

BLAM! Doors fly open, and before they know it, David and Dick are surrounded by thugs, with guns drawn. The leader comes in, introduces himself as "Long" as he begins to transform into a dragon like creature. Meanwhile, it's revealed that Penguin is the man in Gotham all behind the conflict, asking someone about Long's progress tracking down the heroes, and the shipment of his goods to Africa. WHAT'S HE UP TO!? Well, that'll be next week, because...

END.

Fun issue. I liked that we're getting the Batwing Nightwing team up. Wing up? Whatever. This definitely has more of a super hero type feel than say the first arc, which was so deeply rooted in Africa, for the most part. Here we get some good ol' globe trotting fun, and some team ups, which may be a result of the books slow sales? Who knows. Doesn't take away from my enjoyment or anything.

Marcus To's second issue was just as strong as the first, his drawing of the new villain Long was awesome and I love his Nightwing, as well as his Damian, for however briefly Robin appears (To would be on the top of my list for a Robin on going.)

Some drawbacks to the issue, Robin was all too helpful, not as much as a snarky asshole as he needs to be. The bombing story/Matu's family being dead now was REALLY out of left field. Didn't really fit. Might be something that they'll get into later?